SNS

No need for a tin hat - you're absolutely entitled to have an opinion. Perhaps some more facts may explain my position- I booked the Barcelona flights solely because of the flight times. It was essentially a one night stay there with flights back at a decent time as we all needed to be in work the next day and two of my mates had v long drives to their offices. I actually wanted to go to Puerto Banus but the flights back were too late on the Sunday. Monarch knew our flight would be delayed long before we set off to the airport. But they never informed us. They then delayed us by so long we ended up flying home at 300am not 9pm which meant 3 out of the 4 of us were unable to get sufficient sleep to drive safely to work. Hence 3 days / part days leave were used. £175 didn't cover the costs but at least defrayed to some extent. The second time was BA. I had paid nearly £3k for business class flights for myself, wife and small child. We had another 5 hour delay. They broke our sons pushchair and my wife's suitcase. They claimed they were unable to sit us together on the later aircraft until I stuck our 2 year old in a seat by himself to make a point and other passengers agreed to swap seats. They then flew us to Gatwick. But our car was at Heathrow. They thought a National Express coach ticket each sufficient to address that. Personally I don't think the compensation that the European Court ruled we were entitled to was sufficient in the circumstances but it was easier than taking a case myself. You do raise an interesting philosophical question though in relation tonRyanair type flights where I guess the compensation could outweigh the initial cost of the flight - limiting the payout to the costs paid would seem reasonable to me but I have never been in that position so do not know what I would do if I was. Really ? What do they do then deliberately cause the plane to be significantly delayed so they can claim ? I do love these urban myths

Done

He was recently back from 6 weeks fishing in Ireland - tough life ! And yeah, there must be half a dozen or so lakes at the place and they all appear to be absolutely rammed with fish

After last year's successful day fishing with Bob Nudd (as a Christmas present for my Brother in law) I decided to repeat the gift last Christmas and the fateful day was last Thursday. Same location as last year, the amazing Decoy Lakes near Peterborough. A full English in a local cafe set us up for the day and we arrived at the lakes for 900am. We spent 20 minutes talking to the owner and showing off my Defender to many interested anglers before Bob arrived. We were set up for just after 10am using Bob's fancy kit and were to fish 'banded pellet', feeding pellets little and often. I hooked a 4lbs carp first cast and had it in the net within a couple of minutes. The light breeze and gentle sunshine made for a pleasant experience- though the 30 or so geese on the next lake did their best to noisily interrupt ! Bites came on every cast. I hit most of them. And landed most of what I hit. It was truly relentless until the rain came about 1 o clock and I had to dash to the car to grab some waterproofs. As the carp slowed down I began to catch barbel instead. And a solitary tench of about 2 lbs. My brother in law is the real angler so naturally I had to keep pointing out I was catching more. To be fair he did waste 10 mins landing a cracking 12lbs mirror carp though. Bob became concerned we were sticking too many fish in the keep nets so told us to start returning everything we caught. We gave up about 400pm as it was actually becoming a little boring (!!!) we were catching so many. We hauled in the keep nets and Bob estimated my brother in law had matched his amazing weight from last year of c150lbs of mainly carp. I then got to mine...... I had 50lbs of barbel alone. And then 150lbs of carp to 8lbs. Plus an amazing (Bob's words) F1 of about 4lbs - beautiful looking fish. 200lbs of fish is something I have just never done before (ignoring a tuna haul in Mexico years ago!). I've attached hopefully a picture of some of them. Bob was concerned I would have a stiff back / shoulder after my exploits. He was right. Lifting my wine glass in the hospitality area at the Game Fair the next day was tough. But I did it. Repeatedly. No idea how I beat this next year !

We may have a spare peg actually - I shall check...... Have got tickets for the game fair again tomorrow as we enjoyed it so much. But now the combine has arrived in the field behind my house- stubbles for tomorrow too !

It's pretty good in the hospitality area. And I've bought another gun too - roll on this years grouse !

Welcome back !

I ought to have added - am only 5 miles from Ragley Hall in case any of you are going to the Game Fair and want to pick it up before / after. Though am there myself Friday !

If it makes you feel any better Softbank share price lost about 10% yesterday after announcing the deal. Though am not entirely sure who the 'we' are that you think are selling everything given it wasn't an asset of the Country or anything. In fact I vaguely recall it may even have been a spin out from Cambridge Uni some years ago. You shouldn't worry though - plenty more where Arm came from as the Private Equity investors that have been pumping in millions into companies in that Region know well

I think it's about time for some real insight into the position https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6hNzbDP9ll4&sns=em

I probably will end up doing but thought I'd see if any PW'ers wanted a freebie first

They are not a franchise. But local shop managers have complete flexibility on pricing - john's strong advice was to always negotiate with them

I've met him and his son. They've both spoken at our events. Interesting guys. One of the things they do that I really like is they will dry clean suits / clothes free of charge for any unemployed people going for interviews

As for your view of HMRC. You are wrong full stop - absolutely clueless. You have no idea how they work - I do. Apologies for derailing the original topic but I have a genuine interest in this and the earlier post about HMRC not auditing cash businesses- do you work for HMRC ?

That said, I have spoken to the builders and a couple of them carried it out there from the kitchen It's only 20 feet or so from where it is now out through the doors and into a van

Yes !!

Height 96cm Depth 60 cm Width 109.5cm And yeah when I googled them they did seem pretty pricey !

Gas !

Falcon range cooker. Double oven. Grill. Separate plate warming drawer. 5 burners. Free to whoever wants to come collect it as has been stuck in our Orangery for far too long since we had an Aga fitted instead. Couple of pictures hopefully attached Ah, should probably have said - we are about 10 miles downstream from Stratford upon Avon

He's resigned

Er no, against the Icelandic back 4

Sterling very weak again

Oops, meant to say just to provide some balance Can't see the point of another myself, even with idiots saying they would have voted differently had they known the consequences etc etc etc

http://metro.co.uk/2016/06/24/remember-that-time-nigel-farage-said-52-48-votes-should-lead-to-second-referendum-5963900/